Brownback departs from Norquist’s path

Early last year, Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist predicted Gov. Sam Brownback could be a competitive candidate for president in 2016. He talked up Brownback’s aggressive tax cuts and 2012 purge of insufficiently conservative GOP senators to National Review Online. “Because he’s done it once, it is credible that he may choose to do it again,” Norquist said then. But early this month, as Brownback was pushing a version of the $400 million-plus tax increase that finally passed last week, Norquist tweeted: “KS lawmakers should support Sen (Ty) Masterson’s 6% budget cut, not raise taxes. It’s an overspending problem, not a revenue problem.” In a letter to legislators, Norquist also called proposals to raise taxes “outrageous” and a “failure of duty by lawmakers to find and cut wasteful spending.” – Rhonda Holman